UK Has Reversed A Surprise Slump In Biomass Energy

The UK is one of the countries that have reported an increase in the solid biomass fuel consumption; this is according to a snapshot report about the state of the European biomass industry.

The rise in the UK is a sharp contrast to the falling market across the rest of Europe and the report blames the exceptionally mild winter last year.

A study by EU Barometer which was published today by the EurObser’ER consortium has revealed that primary energy production that comes from solid biomed decreased by almost3% across the Continent.

The UK market solid biomass electricity is continuing to grow and has risen to 6.1TWh which increased output by about 17% largely due to a take up of the co-firing power plants.

The report has highlighted interesting innovations with biomass electricity industry, this applies to raw materials which are primarily geared towards the raising of the calorific value of biomass bringing it closer in line with coal by resorting to new technique forinstance briquetted, torrefaction and pellets.

The preliminary estimates by EurObserv’ER consortium has revealed that primary energy products using solid biomass - waste wood, wood and other animal based and plant biomass – has decreased by 2.4 Mtoe during 2011, this has slipped to 78.8 Mtoe.

The gross consumption of the solid biomass energy includes exports and imports which is placed at 80.8 Mtoe during 2011 representing a drop of 3.9%. The major reason for this is attributed to the increased influx of wood pellets that are imported from USA and Canada.